A Necessary Trial
by kat620
Summary: Set the summer after Regionals, Rachel finds out about Finn and Santana. Mostly angsy, but some comedy mixed in. Semi-sequel to my other Glee story The Journey Home.
1. Avoidance

"Do you think you could practice your falsetto while I'm gone? I've been working on this arrangement for _Tiny Dancer_ that I think could be really great as a duet with Kurt." Rachel asked Finn, who was sprawled out on her living room floor watching the NBA playoffs.

"There are so many things wrong about what you just said." Finn said, sitting up and facing her.

"Like what?"

"Well, first, there's the whole you're-leaving-me-for-a-whole-month-to-go-to-a-fancy-theater-camp thing. Then the idea that you want me to do a duet of a Billy Joel song with _Kurt_. Oh, and falsetto? Not gonna happen."

"Elton John."

"What?"

"_Tiny Dancer_ is an Elton John song, not Billy Joel."

"That's all you have to say?"

"No, I'm just waiting for you to change your mind now that you know that it's an Elton John song."

"I'm not going to change my mind."

"What if it was a different Elton song?"

"Like what?"

"_Can You Feel the Love Tonight_ might be a better fit for you, now that you mention it." Rachel suggested.

"That's the one from The Lion King, right?"

"Mhmm." Rachel confirmed, already scribbling notes in her music binder.

"Do I get to be Pumba?"

"What?" she asked, looking up.

"Joke. Now can you please take a break from all the arranging and just hang out with me?"

"But I have so many ideas for glee club next year and I really want to get started on them before I leave tomorrow."

"The music's feelings won't be hurt if you put it off until the plane ride to New York. I, on the other hand, will have some very hurt feelings if you leave without giving me a proper goodbye." Finn said as he pulled her down off of the couch and into his lap.

"I'm sorry. I guess I have been ignoring you a little bit since Mr. Shuester told us that glee club isn't being cancelled last month."

"Yes, you have." He teased, nuzzling her neck.

"Well I'm very sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Rachel asked suggestively.

"Not go off to New York for a month?" Finn joked.

"Other than that. I was thinking maybe something that would require going upstairs." Rachel whispered, closing in on him for a short, but intensely promising, kiss.

"Ooooh. I like the sound of that." He said, moving to get off the floor.

"I thought you might."

Several minutes into their heavy make out session, Rachel stopped abruptly.

"Do you have any-?" She asked softly.

"Any what? Oh yeah. Are you sure you want to-?" he started to ask while reaching for his wallet.

"Of course I am." Rachel nodded before pulling him down for another kiss. Unfortunately, one of his hands was still in his pocket, so he lost his balance and fell to his side.

"Mmph." Finn grunted in surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

"Don't be sorry. It's not your fault I'm such a big oaf. Are you alright?" Finn asked, worried that he had landed on and broken her.

"Never better." She answered, pulling him to her again.

"Hold on. Don't you think we should talk about this?" Finn protested, not wanting to go any farther with Rachel than he already had without telling her about his past with Santana.

"Talk about what? I thought things were going well between us? Don't you want to?" Rachel asked, confused.

"Of course I do, more than anything. But I think our first time should be more than just something to remember each other by when you leave. And I really don't want you to feel like you have to do this to make me feel better about you leaving."

"I don't. I just thought that we were ready. Don't you?"

"Maybe. But our first time should be special and romantic. Something worthy of a star like you." Finn said, grasping at straws.

"As long as it's you and me, it will be."

"But there's something that I've been meaning to talk to you about." Finn said.

Suddenly, Rachel heard the garage door opening downstairs.

"Shoot! My dads are home. Come on!" Rachel ordered, pulling him off the bed and out of her bedroom.

"Uh, Rach, where are we going? Shouldn't we be going downstairs?" Finn asked when they passed the stairs.

"We have to pass the garage door to get to the living room. There's not enough time to get there." She said, leading him into the family's huge media library.

"Okay, but what are we doing in here?"

"Looking for The Lion King." She directed him toward the wall of DVDs before turning toward the sheet music.

"Why?"

"So we can say we're doing research on a song for glee club. _Can You Feel the Love Tonight, _remember?" She reminded him as she grabbed the music for the Disney movie.

"Huh? Oh yeah, that. You weren't actually serious about that, were you?" Finn asked, pulling the movie off its shelf.

"Rachel, honey, come to the kitchen. Your dad and I have a surprise for you." One of Rachel's dads called up the stairs.

"Just a minute, Daddy." Rachel called back before handing Finn the sheet music for both the movie and the Broadway show.

"But I had something I wanted to talk about." Finn said as they made their way downstairs.

"We'll talk about it later, okay?" Rachel promised.

"Surprise!" The pair was greeted with cheers from the entire glee club.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked, surprised.

"We couldn't just let you leave without a proper send-off." Rachel's dad explained.

"Yeah, we had to celebrate the fact that we don't have to hear your any of your 'critiques' for a whole month." Puck joked.

"Shut it, Puckerman!" Rachel joked before giving him a quick hug and turning to Quinn, "I'm glad you guys came."

"Okay enough with all this lame greeting stuff. Let's get this party started!" Mercedes broke in.

Several hours later, everyone but Finn had gone home. Rachel and Finn were cleaning up the living room while her parents worked on the kitchen.

"That was fun. I'm glad everybody came." Rachel said.

"Mhmm. I had a good time." Finn agreed.

"I'm really glad Quinn and Puck came. I think they needed a night like this after everything that's happened in the last month."

"Yeah, I know they haven't been hanging out much since the baby was born."

"I am disappointed that we didn't get to finish what we started upstairs though." Rachel added.

"Oh. Well I guess we just have more to look forward to when you get home." Finn said, pulling her into his arms.

"That we do." Rachel promised, standing up on her tiptoes to meet him for a kiss.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about before everyone else showed up?" she asked when they pulled apart.

"Oh, nothing important. It can wait." Finn stalled, not wanting to discuss Santana with both of her fathers in the next room.

"Rachel, honey, it's getting late. You've got a long day tomorrow." Her dad said as he passed the living room on the way to the stairs.

"I guess that means its time for me to go." Finn groaned.

"I think so too. Are you still going to drive me to the airport in the morning?"

"Of course. Do you really think I would pass up the chance to see my girl one last time before she goes off for the summer? What time do you want me to pick you up?"

"My flight leaves at two and the airport recommends arriving two hours early, so around eleven?"

"Okay, I'll see you then. Goodnight." Finn said, giving her a quick peck on the lips before letting himself out the front door.

"Night."

When Finn arrived at eleven the next morning, as promised, he found Rachel pacing around the media room in a panic.

"Hey, Rach. Ready to go?"

"No. What if the camp doesn't have a good music selection. I think I should take a few pieces from my own collection just in case. But I can't decide which ones would suit the mood of the camp best."

"Haven't you been going to this camp for years? I think you would know by now if its musical selection was good enough for you."

"I suppose you're right. But I think I'm going to take a least a couple of pieces. Can you get that one for me?" Rachel asked, pointing at the score for _Evita, _which was several inches out of her reach.

"Here. Anything else?"

"No, I think I've got everything I need." Rachel said, gathering her selections.

After long goodbyes with her dads and several promises to call every night, the couple was finally on the road. The drive to the airport was mostly uneventful, save for a lively argument over Rachel's insistence that he forfeit his Pantera CD in exchange for Elton John's greatest hits. As he was trying to navigate the airport terminals, Finn's phone beeped, announcing the arrival of a new text message.

"Could you read it for me? I'm probably lost already." Finn asked, handing Rachel his phone.

"Sure." She said, taking his phone and flipping it open to reveal the message.

"_Now that man-hands is out of the picture, you ready for some seconds?- S_". Rachel stared at the message in silence for several seconds before Finn broke her train of thought.

"Who's it from?"

"Why is Santana Lopez asking if you're ready for seconds?"


	2. Confession

"Why is Santana Lopez asking if you're ready for seconds?"

"Uh. I- uh." Finn stammered, scanning the area for a place to pull over, fully aware of how bad this situation was about to get.

"Well?"

"I… hold on." Finn said, spotting a line of parking spaces for people waiting to pick someone up.

"What kind of seconds, Finn?" Rachel asked again when they were parked safely.

"I know this looks bad, and, well, it kind of is, but-" Finn started.

"Why is Santana asking you if you want seconds?" Rachel cut him off.

"This is what I wanted to talk to you about last night."

"Oh my God. You cheated on me with her, didn't you?"

"Before you say anything else, will you please just let me get this out?" Finn asked. Rachel nodded in assent.

"First, I love you. Nothing I'm about to tell you can change that, okay?" Rachel nodded again, tear pooling in her eyes.

"I guess I should start at the beginning? Um, well back in March after we sort of dated and I screwed it up and broke your heart, you started dating Jesse."

"What does Jesse have to do with Santana?" Rachel blurted out.

"Please, just let me explain. You were dating Jesse and it made me realize how stupid I was to let you go and then Santana offered to have sex with me to make you jealous and I told her no. But then you told me that you were going to have sex with Jesse and I got really jealous so I went back to Santana and said yes."

"You slept with _Santana?_"

"So when we were talking about it during the Madonna week at school and you told me that you were waiting for the right person, that was all a lie?"

"Technically. But it's what I wish I had done. I promise you that it didn't mean anything to me at all. I wished I could take it back before it was even over."

"And the night that we officially became a couple and I told you all about how I lied about sleeping with Jesse, you just sat there and let me feel guilty about something I _didn't_ do while keeping this huge secret from me?"

"Well, yes. But it wasn't like that. I wanted to tell you, I just didn't want to hurt you anymore that day, after everything with glee club and Jesse and your mom."

"So you were just trying to protect me? We've been together for over a month. Surely you didn't think I still needed to be protected after a month."

"But I _was_ trying to protect you. I know that sounds totally lame now, but I knew that this would hurt you."

"And what about last night when we almost slept together? Were you protecting me then? How do you know that she didn't give you a venereal disease?"

"We, um, used a condom. And I had my football physical last week, so I would know by now, right?"

"That's all you have to say? That you used a condom and had your football physical last week?"

"No, Rachel, please, you have to understand. I love you and I didn't want to hurt you and I know that this was going to hurt you and I would take it back if I could and I am so sorry that I did this to you." Finn pleaded.

"You didn't want to hurt me? Didn't you say you only did this because of me and Jesse? That sounds a lot like you wanted to hurt me, Finn."

"I didn't do this to hurt you. I did it to distract myself. And to feel keep up with you. I know it sounds stupid, because it is, but that's why I did it. It didn't mean anything and I would take it back if I could."

"If it meant nothing, why would Santana think you want seconds? She obviously knows we're an item"

"Because she's _Santana_. She loves starting shit like this. It was her idea in the first place."

"Don't try to blame this on her, Finn."

"I'm not. I know that this is entirely my fault. I was jealous and did something stupid and I wish I could take it back more than anything. Even then I knew I love you and that should have been enough to stop me." With that, they both found themselves at a loss for words.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Rachel broke the silence.

"I tried to last night."

"But you didn't. When were you going to tell me?"

"Probably when you got back. I didn't see the point in ruining your summer."

"If you didn't want to ruin my summer, why would you have told me last night?"

"Because I thought you wanted to have sex and I knew I had to tell you about this before that happened and I hoped that we would have time to work through this before you left, which we don't anymore."

"Is that really the reason you didn't want to tell me right before I left for a camp with a hundred attractive, talented men who understand my love for theater?"

"I wasn't even thinking about other guys. I know you could be with any of them if you wanted to and there's nothing I could do about it. It would kill me, but I can't do anything to stop you. It would be hippo-hippocriminal."

"Hypocritical."

"Yeah. I know that it's hypocritical of me to ask you not to do anything with any of those guys, but please don't. Take this time away from me as a chance to try to get over this and give me the opportunity to make it up to you when you come back."

"I'm going to miss my flight if we don't go soon." Rachel said coldly.

"Rachel, please tell me there's a way that we can fix this. I can't let you get on that plane knowing that you might hate me."

"I think you should take me to the terminal. I don't want to miss my flight." She repeated

"Screw the flight. We're not going anywhere until I know that we're going to be okay. Can you promise me that?"

"No, I can't, Finn. I need time to process this before I make you any promises. So can you please just take me to the terminal? Or do I have to walk?"

"No, I'll drive. But can you at least promise me that you won't give up on us today? I know you're mad and you have every right to be, but please tell me that you'll give us a chance to fix this." Finn pleaded.

"If this is your way of making sure that I'm not breaking up with you today, fine. We are not broken up, but we are definitely broken. Now please drive."

"Okay. Thank you. I love you. And I'm unbelievably sorry."

"Just go." Rachel said, which prompted Finn to finally start driving. After a few minutes of extremely tense silence, they arrived at the correct drop-off location.

"I'll go grab your bags." Finn said, moving to get out of the car.

"No, I can get them. Don't get out."

"Oh. Okay. So will you call me when you get to the camp?"

"I'll text you when I land. I doubt I'll have much time to talk." Rachel rebuffed, gathering her things.

"Okay. And if you ever want to talk about this, or anything else, I won't care about the time, just call."

"Alright."

"So I guess this is goodbye. I'll see you at the end of the summer?" Finn said, as he moved in to give her a hug and kiss. Rachel dodged him by climbing out of the truck.

"I was going to finally tell you I loved you today. Now I'm glad I didn't." Rachel whispered before closing the door. Then she heaved her suitcase out of the back of the truck and pulled it toward security without glancing back.


	3. Contemplation

As soon as Rachel exits Finn's truck, she starts moving on autopilot. Thankfully, she has gone on several weekend trips to New York with her dads, so she manages to navigate herself to the correct gate without much thought.

Once Rachel finally gets settled on the plane, she realizes that she feels colder than she has all summer. Maybe it's just the air conditioner on the plane or maybe she's missing the warmth she's been feeling since Finn's declaration of love. For a fleeting moment, she wishes he was there to put his arm around her. Then she remembers it all over again.

"_Finn slept with Santana."_

That simple fact changed everything about Rachel's relationship with Finn. Their month together this summer had surpassed any expectations she had had for them. She had really believed that they were more than just a summer romance. They had been circling each other for months. Now that she thought about it, though, a summer fling was all their relationship was. Maybe that's all it was meant to be. The pieces fit after all. Baggage that, for the most part, was avoided at all costs: check. Time in spent in the vacuum of summer vacation: check. Intrusion by the real world: check. Now that the real world was forcing itself upon them, it seems as though they are going to fall apart, the trademark of a summer fling.

And that hurt her more than a summer fling ever should.

…

"Are you alright, honey?" the older woman sitting next to Rachel interrupted her train of thought.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." Rachel answered with a slight sniffle.

"You've been staring at the back of that man's head crying for about twenty minutes. Do you want to talk about it?"

"_Not really. But elderly strangers on buses always have the best advice in the movies. Maybe that rule also applies to airplanes." _Rachel thought.

"I, um, just found out that my boyfriend cheated on me. Well sort of cheated on me." She started.

"Did he or didn't he? There's no 'sort of' when it comes to these types of things." The woman's friend piped up, only to be shushed by her friend.

"I mean he was with another girl before we started dating, but he had already told me that he wanted to be with me. And I was still dating my ex-boyfriend at the time, so that has a lot to do with it too."

"So while he was trying to win you over, he also had this other girl on the side?" the friend asked.

"Basically. But he also lied about it. After it happened, he told me that he decided to wait for the right person, whom I presumed to be me. Then today, the other girl asks him if he wants to do it again, and that's the only reason he told me what really happened. He said he was just waiting for the right time to tell me, but it should have come up by now, right?"

"I don't know sweetie. But I wouldn't be too hard on him if I were you. You didn't have a claim on him at the time, and you're too young to spend the rest of your life bitter over something like that." the woman told her.

"Don't say that. Once a cheater, always a cheater." her friend protested.

"Don't let your own personal life interfere with this young lady's. She was with another boy and…" the older women started arguing while Rachel started debating with herself about whether what Finn had done could be considered cheating. Half an hour later, she decided that, no, he really wasn't cheating because she had been with Jesse, after all. It was just the lie that she couldn't get past.

She could understand why he had initially wanted her to think that it had happened. She could understand why, after it happened, he would be embarrassed about it. If she really tried, she could even understand why he did it with her in the first place. What she couldn't understand was the lie. He'd had a month's worth of chances to tell her the truth, but only did so when confronted with that awful text from _her._

It wasn't until halfway through the flight that Rachel remembered to be angry at Santana for her part in this whole mess.

Rachel didn't even know what to think about Santana Lopez. She knew all along that the celibacy club was just a ruse, but to approach Finn with the offer to take his virginity just to make somebody jealous was beyond anything she could imagine. Then to proposition him again, after he had gotten the girl he was trying to make jealous in the first place, was just pathological.

"_I suppose I can't really blame him for Santana being Santana. And I can't be too mad at him over something that happened before we got together. It took us so long to get to where we are and we've already been through so much. First he was with Quinn and she was pregnant. Then I was with Jesse and he was just a pretty façade. Surely we can make it through this too. I should talk to him now that I've calmed down." _She thought as the plane made its descent toward the runway.

"You might want to buckle up." The woman next to Rachel told her.

"Oh. Thanks. Are we already there? That was faster than I remember."

"Well you've had a lot to think about. How are you feeling about everything now?"

"I'm not happy that it happened, but I know I can't be mad at him for doing what he did before we were together. I am mad at him for lying to me though, but I think we'll be alright."

"I'm glad to hear that." The woman said.

"Make sure you give him a little hell before you let him off the hook though." The friend said, causing Rachel to laugh at the memory of her impromptu performance of _Gives You Hell_.

"I will. Thank you so much for listening to my silly problems, I'm sorry, I never got your names."

"I'm Devorah and this is my friend Anne" The woman sitting next to Rachel said.

"I'm Rachel, Rachel Berry. So what are you going to New York for?"

"My niece just started in a show on Broadway and we're going to see her perform." Anne explained.

"Really? I'm going to make it to Broadway some day. What show is she in?"

"Spring Awakening."

"Oh, I love that show. What role?"

"Wendla. Is that a good role? She won't tell me anything about the show or her role."

"It's a great role. She's one of the first on my list to play when I move to New York. Prepare to be a little shocked though."

"Really? Why?" Devorah asked.

"I don't want to ruin the surprise, now do I?" Rachel grinned.

"You young people are impossible." Anne joked as the pilot came on over the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived on time in New York City. The temperature outside is 72 degrees Fahrenheit and it is partly cloudy. Looks like a perfect day to take in the city. The crew and I would like to thank you for choosing United Airlines. Have a great day."

"Well it was nice meeting you two." Rachel said as they all gathered their things to leave.

"You too," Anne said, "I'll be sure to tell my niece to look out for you when you go to steal her role."

"Oh, I'm sure she will have moved on by the time I get there. I still have two years of high school to finish before I can do anything. Well, thanks again for listening to my problems." Rachel said as she stood up to leave.

"Oh you're welcome, sweetheart. Now go call that boy of yours and make things right." Devorah said.

"I will." Rachel said before making her way down the narrow aisle.

…

Rachel had little trouble locating both her luggage and the van driver for her theater group. The driver told her that she was the first to arrive and that they had about fifteen minutes to kill before the other members of the group started arriving. Rachel decided to take the opportunity to call Finn. He answered after the first ring.

"Rach, hi. You made it to New York alright? I'm glad you called."

"Yes. I'm just at the airport waiting for the rest of my group to arrive."

"Oh. So… how are you doing?" Finn asked slowly, afraid of the answer.

"I'm still pretty upset, but I think I'll be okay. I'm hurt that you didn't tell me sooner, but I understand-" Rachel started, but stopped when she heard a female voice on the other line.

"Is that her? Hi, Rachel!" Santana yelled in the background.

"Damn it, Santana. Why would you do something like that? Rachel, I swear it's not what you think." Finn tried to explain, only to realize that he was talking to dead air.


	4. Regret

Finn watched sadly as Rachel made her way inside the airport. If asked, he would have sworn that she was walking differently. Less attitude, more purpose. Of course, Rachel always walked with purpose, but she usually walked with the attitude that nothing was going to slow her down. Now, she looks like the smallest obstacle would be enough to bring her to a screeching halt. Finn hated that he made her aware of such obstacles.

He watched her as she waited in line to check her suitcase and claim her boarding pass. Only when she disappeared behind the metal detectors did he turn his attention to the things going on around him. Children demanding souvenirs from wherever their parents had visited. A girl only a few years older than him dropped her bags and ran into her boyfriend's waiting arms. Finn wondered if his reunion with Rachel would be so happy. Their goodbye certainly hadn't been as bittersweet as the loving couples kissing each other goodbye with promises to be home soon and call tonight. Theirs had just been bitter.

After fifteen minutes of dazed people-watching and resisting the urge to cry like a girl, Finn was jerked back to reality by an airport security guard tapping on his window.

"You can't park here, kid. If you're waiting for an arrival, then drive around the loop a couple times or wait in the arrivals parking." The guard said when Finn rolled down his window.

"Oh, okay. Sorry officer. I'll get out of the way." He replied, then rolled up the window, put his car into gear, and left the airport.

As soon as he got away from the hustle and bustle of the airport, Finn realized just how quiet the truck was. His time with Rachel had made him all too aware of how deafening silence could be. To her, silence was just a cue to make some noise. Pitch-perfect, beautiful noise, but noise all the same. Now that she was gone, Finn had to settle for the car stereo. Automatically, the stereo began playing the Elton John CD Rachel had played for him less than an hour ago.

As "Benny and the Jets" filled the cab, Finn chastised himself for letting Rachel get on that plane in the state she was in. For letting her out of the truck without making sure she, and they, were okay. For not making it clear enough that what happened with Santana meant nothing to him. For not telling her that it was the biggest mistake he's ever made. For not telling her about it sooner, and for letting her read that stupid text. For doing it in the first place. For being willing to throw away something great for a meaningless encounter that turned out to be a source of constant guilt and fear. If he thought he regretted his actions when he was still in that hotel room, it was nothing compared to his self-loathing now that one stupid mistake was pushing away the only girl he had ever really loved.

Somehow, in the midst of all his self-flagellation, Finn managed to get himself home in one piece. There was a near-incident involving an unnoticed stop sign and an Oldsmobile, but he was quick with the brakes and the adrenaline rush alerted him to the rest of the world long enough to get him safely home. Luckily, his mom was at work and wouldn't be around to ask any questions for several hours. Finn didn't think he could handle saying what had happened that morning out loud yet.

When Finn stomped into his room, he automatically turned on his radio. Again, the silence was too loud for him at the moment. It made it too easy for him to think. But not even the dulcet tones of Linkin Park could push the image of Rachel walking away from him out of his mind.

Finn wished she wasn't leaving him for a month. Of course, he had wanted that before that stupid text from Santana, but that isn't the point. Before, he had known that at least a part of her wanted to be in Lima with him, now he wasn't so sure. He wished that he had told her she was all he cared about and that of course he wasn't going to take Santana up on her new offer. He hates the idea that Rachel might be thinking that he would run off to that bitch again.

He wished he could convince Rachel that Santana meant nothing to him, that his brain was screaming at him to stop before he even started. Well, before Santana started. Finn hadn't really been an active participant in the events of that night in the hotel room. He wished that he hadn't been such a jealous jackass. He wished he hadn't broken up with her in the first place so he wouldn't have had the chance to become a jealous jackass. He wished he had just told Rachel the truth from the beginning and not left her in the position to find out the way she did.

Most of all, he wished he had just stayed the hell away from Santana Lopez.

"_Did she really think that I would want her again now that I'm with Rachel? It's not like she's known for screwing the same guy more than once anyway._ _She must have been messing with me._" Finn thought, then before he even had time to think about it, he was storming out of his house and heading in the direction of Santana's house a few blocks away.

"Couldn't wait to call?" Santana quipped flirtatiously when she answered the door.

"Why the hell would you do that?" Finn yelled at her.

"So you're not here to get laid, then?"

"Obviously. Why would you even ask me? You know I'm with Rachel now. Or was, until I got that stupid text from you. Now I'll be lucky if she ever talks to me again."

"Oh, so that's what this little hissy fit is about? Somebody neglected to tell his girlfriend about his past?" Santana asked, bored.

"I didn't neglect to do anything. I was waiting for the right time." Finn protested.

"And the day she left for nerd camp was the right time? Great planning there."

"I didn't _plan_ to tell her today. I was forced to when Rachel read your text."

"Don't try to pin this on me. I'm not the one that let the troll read my messages."

"Don't call her that! And before you texted me, I had no reason to hide my messages from her! How was I supposed to know that you were going invite me over for- for _that_- again? You know I didn't even really want to do it the first time."

"Well, at least one part of you did." Santana smirked, glancing at Finn's crotch.

"Really? Did you really have to go there?" Finn started another rant, but stopped when his phone rang. After taking a second to compose himself and turn away from Santana, he answered.

"Rachel, hi. You made it to New York alright? I'm glad you called."

"Yes. I'm just at the airport waiting for the rest of my group to arrive."

"Oh. So… how are you doing?" Finn asked slowly, afraid of the answer.

"I'm still pretty upset, but I think I'll be okay. I'm hurt that you didn't tell me sooner, but I understand-" Rachel started, but stopped when she heard a female voice on the other line.

"Is that her? Hi, Rachel!" Santana yelled in the background.

"Damn it, Santana. Why would you do something like that? Rachel, I swear it's not what you think." Finn tried to explain, only to realize that he was talking to dead air.

"Great. She hung up on me. Why would you do that? Do you realize what she's thinking right now?" Finn yelled at Santana.

"I just thought she should know who her boyfriend is hanging out with while she's gone."

"That's a load of bull! First of all, we are not 'hanging out'. You know perfectly well that I'm only here to tell you that I don't appreciate you coming on to me and ruining my relationship with Rachel. Second, you don't give a damn about Rachel or me. You did this to screw with us. I'm done with this crap. Stay the hell away from me." Finn said before storming out of the house. As soon as he pulled himself together well enough to use his phone, he dialed Rachel's number. After what felt like fifty rings, someone answered.

"Rachel says to tell you that she doesn't want to talk to you right now." An unfamiliar voice said.

"Who are you? I need to talk to Rachel." Finn demanded.

"I'm Jen. I'm her roommate at camp. And Rachel says that she doesn't want to talk to you right now."

"Then can you give her a message for me, Jen?"

"Sure."

"Tell her that I was only with Santana right now to tell her to stay away from me. And tell her I love her and that I'm sorry and that I hope she'll give me a chance to make things better and that I love her."

"Okay, I'll tell her." Jen said with a slight chuckle at the second 'I love her.'

"Thanks. And Jen?"

"Yeah?"

"Take care of her for me?"

"Well I don't know how much I can do, but I'll try."

"Thank you."

"Bye."

"Bye." Finn said, then hung up the phone and continued his trudge home.


	5. Alienation

Finn spent the rest of the day in his room waiting for Rachel to call. Like clockwork, he would check his phone every three minutes only to see the picture of them at Lake Erie that Rachel had set as his wallpaper staring back at him. Usually, he just dropped the phone next to him on the bed, but every so often he would dial Rachel's number and listen to the ringtone until her voicemail picked up. He never left any messages though, he knew there was nothing he could say in a message that would convince her to call him back.

Around three that afternoon, he was briefly encouraged by his phone's ring, only to have his hopes dashed again when he realized it was Puck on the other end.

"Hey, man. I was thinking about getting some of the guys together to play some basketball tonight. You in?"

"Nah, I don't really feel like it."

"Why not? Didn't Berry let you off your leash while she's gone?"

"I would argue with you about what you just said about me being her bitch, but I'm really not in the mood right now."

"Damn. She really does have you whipped. She's only been gone for what, five hours, and you're already moping? Dude, get over it and come play some ball."

"I'm not moping. Or whipped. I think we might be broken up."

"Really? What happened?"

"Santana."

"Oooh. How'd she find out about you two doing the nasty?"

"Wait… you know about that? I don't remember telling you."

"You didn't. And considering the fact that you weren't talking to me at the time for reasons that have already been resolved, I've forgiven you for not telling me. I heard from Quinn, who found out from Brittany, who obviously heard it from Santana herself the night it happened. But how I found out isn't important. What happened with Berry?"

"I got a text from Santana when I was taking Rachel to the airport this morning asking if I wanted seconds and Rachel read it."

"Damn, that sucks. How pissed was she?"

"Extremely. But I think she was more sad than anything. Then, when she called me after she landed, Santana just had to say something to her."

"Wait- you were with Santana when she called?"

"Yes, to tell her off."

"Are you about done with that grave you're digging yourself, or do you need me to come help?"

"Screw you."

"No thanks. I don't swing that way. So no basketball tonight?"

"No. I need to talk to Rachel."

"Fine. But tomorrow night, we're getting wasted and playing Call of Duty. You're not moping around two nights in a row, it's pathetic."

"Whatever, dude."

"Later."

After his conversation with Puck, Finn's persistence in checking his phone increased. Soon, he was calling Rachel every fifteen minutes. When his mom got home from work at five, she had been too distracted by her pending date with Mr. Hummel to notice what was wrong.

"Honey, I'm going to dinner with Burt tonight. There's money for pizza on the kitchen table. Do you have any plans with the boys tonight? I don't want you staying home every night just because your girlfriend is on vacation."

"Puck invited me to play basketball tonight. Don't worry about me." Finn assured her, essentially truthful, although he had no intentions of going out.

"Okay, honey. Have a good time and be back by midnight."

"Okay. Bye."

The rest of Finn's evening played out about the same as the afternoon had. He thought about everything he had done wrong. He told himself that he didn't really do anything wrong because they weren't together yet. He thought about how guilty he felt. He called Rachel. Around nine o'clock, he decided that he didn't want to be home when his mom returned from her date with Burt, so he went outside and started walking. Eventually, he found himself at the school, so he jumped the fence around the football field and climbed to the top of the bleachers, ready to resume his attempts to reach Rachel.

Around one o'clock in the morning, Rachel and Jen, her roommate, stumbled into their dorm room after a long night of karaoke with their theater group. As soon as Rachel flopped onto her bed, ready to crash, her phone started buzzing once again.

"Is that him _again_?" Jen asked incredulously.

"Of course. Every five minutes now."

"Well, you need to talk to him, at least long enough to tell him to stop calling because I'm not going to have any boy mess with my beauty sleep unless I get some action out of it."

"I can't talk to him. I don't know what to say and I just… can't" Rachel hesitated.

"That boy is not going to leave you alone until you talk to him. I figured out that much from the two-minute conversation I had with him this afternoon. Now answer the damn phone. Please."

"I guess you're right."

"Good. I'll give you some privacy." Jen said, collecting her shower stuff and heading to their bathroom.

"Thanks. And sorry. I'll try to be done by the time you get out."

"Whatever. Just make him stop calling so incessantly." Jen said as she closed the door behind her. Rachel nodded, then pushed 'talk' on her phone and waited for Finn to start the conversation.

"Rachel? Are you there?" Finn asked, surprised that she had finally answered.

"Yes."

"I'm glad you answered. Does this mean that you're ready to listen to my explanation?"

"It means I want to go to sleep and I won't be able to do that until you stop calling me."

"But I have to talk to you. You need to understand that what happened this afternoon was a huge misunderstanding or a huge mistake or both and I swear nothing happened with Santana this afternoon."

"How do I know you weren't taking her up on her offer?"

"Because I love you!"

"Like you loved me when you had sex with her the first time? You know, I was ready to forgive you for that until you ran right back to her as soon as I was gone."

"I swear nothing happened. Don't you trust me?"

"I used to, before I realized that our entire relationship has been based on a lie."

"Our entire relationship? Isn't that a little dramatic?" Finn blurted out without thinking.

"Considering the fact that I had been under the impression that you waited for me through the whole Jesse situation because you, as you claim, love me, I'd have to say yes, our entire relationship has been based on a lie. And I don't appreciate you mocking my flare for the dramatic."

"I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry." Finn tried to placate her.

"_That's_ what you choose to apologize for?"

"I'm trying to apologize for everything! I'm sorry for going to Santana's today to tell her off for that text this morning. I'm sorry I slept with her before we got together, and I'm sorry I lied about it. But I love you and I was just trying to protect you from something that I knew would hurt you."

"Maybe you should have focused on _who_ would be hurting me when I found out about this instead of _what_."

"Wha… huh?"

"You, Finn. You broke my trust and you hurt me. You knew my experience with Jesse and his lies, and you chose to do the same thing. I don't know if I can do this anymore." Rachel said softly, on the verge of tears.

"Wait, do what? Don't compare me to Jesse, he lied to hurt you, I was trying to avoid hurting you."

"You still lied. I can't trust you anymore. I can't be in a relationship with someone I can't trust, especially when I'm in a different state and another girl is after you."

"Wait, you're breaking up with me because you're worried I might do something with Santana again? Rachel… I promise nothing happened with her today. I told her to stay away from me, and from you. Nothing is going to happen. You can trust me."

"No, I can't. I'm sorry, Finn."

"Wait, Rachel. Please give me a chance. I promise I won't talk to Santana. Or any girl if that's what you want. I love _you_."

"Not talking to other girls isn't going to fix this. I just can't trust you right now."

"Then give me a chance to earn your trust. I understand that you're mad right now, but please give me a chance to prove how much I love you when you come home. I'll be here waiting for you, just like I was going to be before this happened."

"Goodbye, Finn. Please don't call." Rachel said before hanging up the phone and finally allowing herself to break down. A few minutes later, Jen returned to the room.

"So? Did you make up? Did he promise to only call twelve times a day?" she joked.

"No. We broke up." Rachel said between sobs.

"Oh, Rachel. I'm so sorry." Jen said, pulling Rachel into a hug.

Almost an hour after his devastating conversation with Rachel, Finn trekked bleary-eyed to Puck's house.

"Dude, what the hell? Your mom's been calling me for an hour. Where have you been?" Puck asks when he answers the door.

"Nowhere. Can I crash here tonight? I don't want to deal with her right now."

"Sure. But you have to tell your mom, she's called me at least five times."

"Fine. Can I use your phone?"

"Yeah. Here. Where's yours?" Puck asks as he hands Finn his cell phone.

"In the pond at school." Finn answered drolly as he dialed his home phone.

"I'm sure I'm going to regret asking, but why is your phone in the pond?"

"Hold on. Hi, Mom. It's me. I'm gonna stay at Puck's tonight. Sorry for not calling you sooner." When Carol started lecturing him about curfews and cell phones and why they exist, Finn interrupted her.

"Mom, hold on a second. Rachel broke up with me tonight. That's why I was out and didn't call. Actually, I'm going to need to get a new phone tomorrow. But I don't want to talk about it right now." Finn finished off the conversation with a series of 'mhmm's as his mother continued to berate him but gave him permission to stay at Puck's for the night.

"Is she pissed?" Puck asked when Finn returned his phone.

"I'm grounded for a week. No big deal. It's not like I have a girlfriend to hang out with anymore." Finn grumbled as he flopped onto the couch.

"I don't wanna sound like a girl, but what happened with that? I thought you were gonna win her back and all that shit."

"She decided that she can't trust me and that if she can't trust me, she can't date me."

"Women and their trust issues." Puck cracked, grabbing a bottle of Jack Daniels and handing it to Finn.

"I gotta get her back." Finn muttered before accepting the bottle and taking a long drink from it.


	6. Surprise

Finn spent the last half of his summer under house arrest. The week's worth of grounding he initially received quickly turned into a month when he stumbled home, still drunk, after his night with Puck and explained that his phone was now under six feet of water in the school pond. At least he was allowed out of the house for work at Sheets n Things and for football practice. Otherwise, he would have gone completely stir-crazy. He did, however, manage to honor Rachel's request and not call her. This probably had more to do with the fact that his phone was completely destroyed and, as of yet, unreplaced, and with it went her phone number than his apathy toward their situation. In fact, he was still quite determined to win Rachel back by any means necessary, even if that meant driving to New York and hunting her down. Plans to do just that were what occupied the majority of his time in his month of grounding.

Rachel, on the other hand, was almost too busy. While she believed that distractions were as good a way as any to get over a broken heart, she still wasn't able to let go of the pain Finn had caused. Luckily, her role as Elphaba in the camp's production of _Wicked _required a level of emotionality that came easily for her in her present state. So with the determination to not let her personal life interfere with her 'job', Rachel threw herself into rehearsals and did her best to ignore what she was feeling. If she really thought about it, though, she would have realized that she missed Finn, and that even though she told him not to call, she was just a little disappointed that he hadn't. For a person who had tried so desperately to keep her on the phone that night, it surprised her that he hadn't tried a little bit harder. Maybe Santana had succeeded after all.

It was two conflicting attitudes of determination, his to sway her opinion of him and win her back, hers to not let him have any effect on her whatsoever, that landed them in their current predicament. As Rachel was touching up her green makeup during the intermission of her final performance, Finn showed up in the dressing room. Before the Santana debacle, she had hoped that he would surprise her by showing up today. After their argument and subsequent breakup, she thought that their lack of communication would be enough to deter him. It seemed she was wrong. But the circumstances were considerably different from what she had imagined: the surprising, but welcome, arrival of her boyfriend. Now, he was somewhere between an entirely unwelcome distraction and a glimmer of hope for a relationship she had all but lost.

"Finn? What are you doing here?" Rachel stammered when she saw him standing behind her in the mirror.

"I came to see you. I would have called, but I kind of threw my phone in a pond after the last time we talked and my mom wouldn't let me buy a new one. Also, I wasn't sure you would talk to me."

"I probably wouldn't have. How did you get here?" Rachel admitted.

"Drove with Puck."

"Why are you here?"

"I came to see you. I already told you that. I think I'm starting to understand your obsession with this play. It's really good. And you're amazing. I don't really like that rich guy though."

"Thank you. But why are you here to see me? We broke up. And we haven't talked since my first night here."

"I told you, my phone spent a night in a pond, so all of my contacts got lost."

"But what did you think would happen when you got here? We're broken up." Rachel, still in shock, allowed his comment about not having her number pass without comment despite the fact that she had posted the glee club contact list on his wall herself.

"Well, I was going to come before you found out about my stupid mistake, and why would I miss the chance to see you perform in New York? This is awesome. And I just wanted to see you. I miss you." Finn gave a her a sheepish grin that, along with the realization that he had been planning to come see her all summer, melted Rachel's heart just a little.

"Rach? We have two minutes until we start." Jen popped into the room in full on Galinda costume.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." Rachel tried to move around Finn in the tiny room.

"Can I see you after?"

"I don't know- I'm sorry." Rachel said before she scurried out of the room.

"Is that Finn?" Jen asked. "He's _cute_."

"That's Finn, yes." Rachel confirmed before beginning her pre-performance meditation routine. Actually, an extended version of it because Finn's appearance had sent her mind into a tailspin and she couldn't even remember what part she was supposed to be playing at the moment. Luckily, she had several minutes to compose herself before her first appearance in the second act and managed to put on a performance that was as flawless as the first act. When she finally made it back to the dressing room after the show, Finn was waiting for her.

"Oh, you're still here." She said, undecided as to be excited or annoyed or disappointed.

"Yeah. You were great out there."

"Thanks."

"So we need to talk. I gave you your space while you've been up here, but I need you to give me another chance."

"Can we talk about this when I get back home? It's my last night here and a bunch of us are going out to celebrate our successful shows." Rachel explained, grateful that she had an excuse to not have that conversation there.

"But I drove all the way here to see you." Finn said, disappointed.

"And I'm very… flattered. But it's my last night here and I've made some very good friends and would like to have a good time with them tonight, something I'm afraid I won't be able to do if we have this conversation right now."

"Damn it, Rachel, you can't just blow me off like this! I drove all the way out here and I deserve at least five minutes of your attention." Finn burst out.

"Fine. You have until I get all of my makeup off." Rachel conceded, taking a baby wipe out of a package on the vanity and wiping her hands first.

"Thank you. So I guess I'll start at the beginning? Well, I had sex with Santana. Wait, that's not really the beginning. Maybe I should start when I decided to be stupid and break up with you back in February. I wasn't ready to be with you and thought I wanted other girls and it took seeing you with Jesse to realize that I was totally wrong and the only girl I wanted was you. Then you told me that you were going to go all the way with him and that made me sick and then Santana offered to take my virginity. I took that offer because I was ridiculously jealous and wanted to keep up with you, I guess. But I even as it was happening, I wished it wasn't. And I felt so guilty about it that I lied to you about it in the choir room. Everything else I told you about what happened that night is true, because I did realize that I should have waited for the right person, for you. That same day, you lied to me too." At this, Rachel made a small noise, but Finn couldn't decide whether it a crying noise or a laughing noise, so he ignored it and continued.

"You told me that you did have sex with Jesse, even though you didn't. I wanted to die when you told me that. I really considered telling you the truth about Santana just to get back at you, but I guess I thought that it would hurt you and I couldn't do that to you. After that, everything got all crazy with Jesse and glee club and then before Regionals, it seemed like we were back together. So I told you I loved you and we really were back together and you told me the truth about how you never did it with Jesse. I know that I should have told you the truth that night too, but you were still so upset about the jerk's lies and we were still so new that I just couldn't do it. I knew that I would have to tell you about it eventually, and I even tried a few times, like the night before you left, but it never worked out. Then Santana sent me that stupid text for no good reason because she knew that I was with you and happier than I've ever been. I never considered going back to her and she knew that too. But you saw the message and that was not the way I wanted to tell you, what with you leaving and all, but I had to." Another noise from Rachel, this time it was definitely in the laughing family, but one of those bitter laughs that you hear from people who can't believe what is happening to them.

"And you know the rest, I guess. You came here, mad at me, and you had every reason to be. I didn't tell you how wrong I was to do what I did or that I love you more than I ever thought I could love a person and I never wanted to hurt you and I'm so so sorry that I did. And after you left, I went to yell at Santana and that's when you called and I was stupid for going there but I was mad at her and at me and I was scared that I was going to lose you to some theater snob and I just had to do something. But I swear I didn't touch her that day. Then you broke up with me and I threw my phone in the pond and spent the rest of my summer grounded. And now I'm here even though my mom thinks I'm at work. Oh, and I love you. I don't think I've said that enough since this whole mess started." Finn finished, breathless from his longest speech ever.

"That was quite a speech, Finn."

"Thanks, I guess. I've had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to say."

"But it doesn't change anything. I can't trust you."

"I know you can't, but I'm asking you to let me earn your trust." Finn pleaded.

"You had it, then broke it. I don't know if I can survive that again."

"You won't have to." He insisted.

"How can I believe you?" Rachel asked, holding back tears.

"How can you not believe this?" Finn asked, then pulled her in for a rough kiss.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." Rachel pulled away, then grabbed her change of clothes and fled the room in tears.

"Don't think I'm giving up this easily." Finn called after her.

"Hey, Berry. Why didn't you tell me that half-naked girls were flying around backstage? The Puckmeister would have done a play with you if he had known that." Puck joked as Rachel hurried past him.

"Dude, what's her deal? I thought you were going to win her back?" he asked as he traced Rachel's steps into the dressing room.

"We're done. Let's get the hell outta here." Finn knew that ruining her night any more than he already had would only serve to further hurt his chances at winning Rachel back.


	7. Meltdown

Rachel returned to Lima with two weeks to go before school started. She was relieved to find her fathers waiting for her at the airport instead of Finn, but couldn't help but be a little disappointed when he never showed up her first night home.

The next morning, she hears a knock on the front door during her regular workout. She looks out her window and sees his truck parked in her driveway. The knocks build in both frequency and intensity as she stands there, debating whether or not to answer it and cause both of them more pain. Finally, the fear that he would eventually stop knocking took over and she ran to the door. However, when she reached it, she found herself unable to open it. Instead, she leans against the wall and cries. Finn thinks he hears her, but gives up and returns to his truck after one last unanswered knock.

He comes over every morning for the rest of the summer, but she never answers the door. Instead, she watches from her bedroom window upstairs as he trudges back to his truck and sits, just waiting, for about ten minutes. She knows he knows she's watching, but can't bring herself to go to him.

On the morning of the first day of school, he shows up again just as she and her dad are about to leave. Rachel decides that she should get the conversation they have to have out of the way before they enter the crowded halls of William McKinley High School.

"Do you want me to tell him to leave?" her dad asked.

"No, I'll go with him. The school's out of your way anyway."

"Are you sure? It's only five minutes."

"I'll be fine."

"Okay. I'll see you when I get home from work."

"Bye, Dad." Rachel said before opening the front door to see Finn standing there. "Hello, Finn. I take it you're here to escort me to school this morning?" She said as she breezed past him to his truck.

"I, uh, yeah," Finn answered, thrown off by her formality, and followed her. "Does this mean you're talking to me again?"

"I was never 'not talking' to you. I was simply taking the time to recover from our unfortunate personal incidents this summer so that we are able to interact on a professional level for the sake of the glee club."

"Oh. And here I thought you were ready to forgive me for that stupid thing I did before we got together that meant nothing to me and finally let us move on." Finn muttered as he started the vehicle and drove toward school.

"I was ready to forgive you that day, until you went right back to her as soon as I left. And we are moving on, just not together."

"Damn it, Rachel, what are we doing here?"

"We're going to school."

"Well obviously. But why are you going to school with _me_?"

"Because I thought that was why you came to my house this morning."

"No, I came over this morning to get you talk to me, just like I have every day since you got back!"

"I am talking to you." Rachel stated matter-of-factly.

"You know what I mean." By this point, Finn understood that she was avoiding saying anything with meaning.

"I'm sorry, Finn, I don't."

"Like hell you don't. Why can't we just talk about this? We're not over, no matter what you say. Don't think I haven't seen you watching me every morning. Why would you do that if you really thought we were through?"

"I was watching you so I could know when I could expect to finish my workouts in peace!" Rachel lied in protest.

"That's bull and you know it! I saw you watching me and I know you weren't thinking about working out. You were thinking about coming down to talk to me. It was all over your face. I know you too well for you to lie to me like this and expect me to believe it."

"Like I believed your lie about waiting for the right person?"

"I thought you said you were going to forgive me for that?" Finn blurted out as he pulled into the school parking lot.

"Well, maybe I lied." Rachel spat out before jumping out of the car and speed-walking toward the cluster of buildings that was McKinley High.

"Rachel, hold on!" Finn called out. He tried to run after her, but a group of freshmen blocked his path and he lost her in the crowd. He cursed loudly in frustration, causing the freshmen to scatter, but Rachel was already too far gone. Only this time, he wasn't sure he wanted to run after her anymore.

As he made his way toward his homeroom, Finn ran into Brittany.

"Hi, Finn! How are you today?" she chirped.

"I'm done." He responded bitterly.

"Done? How can you be done? School just started."

"Oh, nothing. I'm great. How are you?"

"Pretty good, except I don't know where I'm supposed to go."

"I think our homerooms are assigned by last name. You should be in… wait, what's your last name?" Finn tried to help.

"Nevermind. I'll just go find Santana. Bye, Finn!" Brittany gave a little wave then bounced off toward a group of Cheerios. Finn resumed his trudge toward homeroom. When he arrived in Ms. Castle's room, he was relieved to see that no one in the glee club was there. He was in no hurry to share the events of his summer with the friends he shared with his now ex-girlfriend.

Rachel, it turned out, wasn't so lucky. At first, she thought she had managed to avoid the rest of the glee club, but Santana sauntered into Mr. Shuester's room just before the bell, flanked by Brittany, and Rachel knew her luck had ended.

"Hi, Rachel! San, there's Rachel. Let's sit by her!" Brittany said, oblivious to Santana's influence on Rachel's current mood.

"Uh, no. We can't be seen with her. Besides, Karofsky's here." Santana replied, eyeing her next prey.

"But I like Rachel." Brittany protested.

"Fine, you go sit with her. It's not like I care. But don't expect me to talk to you when you become a pariah."

"Carey? I like her. She's so good at singing. But why would I become a Mariah Carey? There's already one of her. And why would you stop talking to me if I became a Mariah Carey? She's so cool." This rambling prompted an exasperated eye roll from Santana, who quickly made her way to the desk in front of Karofsky and made a show of bending over to find something in her backpack. Unaware that there was any reason Rachel wouldn't want to talk to her, Brittany traipsed over to the empty seat next to her.

"Hi, Rachel. How are you today? Do you know why Finn's mad at me? I saw him earlier this morning and he was weird."

"I doubt he was mad at you. He was probably still fuming over the conversation we had on the way to school this morning. We broke up." Rachel explained, deciding that it would be easier to let Brittany spill the beans about the breakup than to have to tell everyone individually.

"Oh no! But you guys, like, just got together. Does this mean that we won't have glee club anymore?"

"No, of course not. Finn and I are professionals."

"But what am I going to do before Cheerios practice if I don't have glee?" Brittany misinterpreted Rachel's answer.

"We're still having glee club, Brittany." Rachel assured her.

"Oh, okay! I'm so excited, I have to tell Santana." Brittany said, then scampered off to the other side of the room.

Sure enough, everyone in the glee club knew about their former power-couple's breakup by lunch. Unfortunately, Brittany had been unable to deduce the reason for the breakup. As a result, she accidentally encouraged the wild speculation that Rachel had fallen madly in love with somebody at theater camp and was going to marry him when she moved to New York to star in a new show on Broadway in December. Of course, Rachel was quick to assure Kurt, Tina, Mercedes, and Kurt that this was not the case, but once she realized that she would have to give the real reason for their breakup, she regretted saying anything on the matter.

"So why did you really break up, then?" Tina asked.

"We just weren't working out." Rachel deflected.

"You seemed to be working pretty well the night of your party. Both of you were looking disheveled and guilty when you came down those stairs." Kurt teased.

"Well, that was then. This is now, and now we are no longer together." Rachel said in a huff before marching out of the cafeteria.

"Least dramatic exit ever?" Artie quipped.

When Rachel arrived at glee club practice that afternoon, she realized that, once again, she was completely alienated from the rest of the club. This time, though, she had done it to herself by lashing out at the only people she had considered friends.

"Are you still mad at us?" Tina asked quietly when she, Artie, and Mercedes seated themselves near her.

"No, of course not. It's just that it's still so new and I can't talk about it yet." The group's round of apologies was interrupted by Mr. Shuester's arrival.

"Alright, simmer down, guys. Time to get started. You guys will have plenty of time later to talk about your fun-filled summers. But I have an assignment for you. Who can tell me what the names Johnny and June, Tammy and George, and Faith and Tim have in common?" Will asked, only to be met by a long silence.

"They are all legendary country musicians who happened to be experiencing the love that they sang about in their duets with one another." Rachel volunteered after taking a moment to think.

"I was focused on the duets aspect of that answer, but you are correct, Rachel. Country music history is filled with classic duets by the performers I just mentioned as well as many others. And I feel that as a music teacher, I have been neglecting this influential genre of music. We have only performed one country song, and all of you were only background to April Rhodes on that number. So your assignment this week is to perform a duet of a country music song with another member of the glee club."

"Excuse me? Do I look like I do country? How do you expect me to get my diva on with a banjo going off in the background?" Mercedes complained.

"Well, Whitney Houston 'got her diva on' with a song written by Dolly Parton. It's called 'I Will Always Love You'. I'm sure you've heard of it." Artie reasoned.

"Thank you, Artie. I know that this assignment might me a bit of a challenge for some of you, so I compiled a list that might be helpful." Mr. Shuester passed around the list.

"I'm down with some Robert Plant and Allison Krause. You in, Quinn?" Puck said, grateful to see someone with some street cred on the list.

"I think I could handle Johnny Cash's deep baritone as long as you're my June." Artie said to Tina, who responded with a grin and a nod.

"See? You can do this, guys. There are plenty of good acts to choose from. And just in case you need a little more inspiration, I thought that Rachel and Finn could give us a demonstration? Your duets have brought down the house in the past." At this suggestion, Finn looked across the room at Rachel dumbfounded.

"Uh, I'm not sure-" He started before Rachel cut him off.

"Of course we can. I assume you had a song in mind?" Rachel stood to perform.

"Here you go. Take it away, guys." Mr. Shuester handed them their sheet music before taking a seat with the rest of the glee club. With that, Brad started off the performance with the opening strains of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's "It's Your Love". Both Rachel and Finn immediately regretted the decision to perform, but made an honorable attempt to remain calm despite the words they were singing to one another.

Finn started the song, botching a few of the words as he tried to read them and sing at the same time:

"_Yeah, yeah_

_Dancin' in the dark, middle of the night  
Takin' your heart and holdin' it tight  
Emotional touch, touchin' my skin  
And asking you to do  
What you've been doin' all over again" _

_"Oh, it's a beautiful thing  
Don't think I can keep it all in  
I just gotta let you know  
What it is that won't let me go?"_

__Rachel joined in:

_"It's your love  
It just does something to me  
It sends a shock right through me  
I can't get enough" _

__As they continued to sing together, the cracks in their shared armor started to show, and the rest of the club waited for one of them to break completely._  
_

"_And if you wonder  
About the spell I'm under  
Oh, it's your love"_

When Rachel's part was over, and she really started to think about the boy standing in front of her and the words he was singing to her, she could feel herself losing control, causing great enjoyment in their audience.__

"Better than I was, more than I am  
And all of this happened by taking your hand  
And who I am now is who I wanted to be  
And now that we're together  
I'm stronger than ever, I'm happy and free" 

With this, Rachel dropped her music and fled the room. Finn, who was surprised he had made it that far into the song himself, muttered an apology before following Rachel's path to the door and walking the opposite direction.

"Can anyone tell me what just happened here?" Mr. Shuester asked when he thought both Rachel and Finn were out of earshot.

"A meltdown. And a pretty fantastic one at that." Kurt marveled, but failed to explain.

"They broke up." Puck said quickly.

"Oh, no. And here I am asking them to serenade each other. I wish I had known."

"I don't." Mercedes said, met with looks of shock from her peers. "What? You all know you loved that as much as I did."


	8. Conference

The next two week's worth of glee club practices were just as awkward as their first. Mr. Shuester, now completely aware of what was going on between Rachel and Finn was careful not to ask them to do too much together, but that didn't help matters much. For their weekly assignments, Rachel always had a melancholy ballad to perform while Finn consistently chose mopey classic rock songs. They usually managed to work through the group numbers just fine, but they both still shied away when the choreography called for them to touch each other. Finally, the glee club had had enough.

"Alright, I'm guessing everybody knows why I called this meeting?" Kurt said in an illicit get-together between everyone in the glee club minus Rachel and Finn.

"Aren't we here to practice? We have to wait for Finn and Rachel, don't we?" Brittany asked.

"No, Brittany. We're here to figure out what to do about Rachel and Finn. Their refusal to work together is ruining the glee club." Mike explained.

"Well, why don't we just talk to them? Show them how much their fight is influencing the rest of us?" Tina suggested.

"No no no. The two of them can't fix this damage without our help. We need to do something. And the way I see it, the only thing we can do that will make this situation any better is to get them back together." Kurt pronounced.

"Well, we better get them back together quick because I'm about three whiny solos away from knocking her scrawny ass out the way and belting out some Aretha." said Mercedes.

"Who says we have to get involved at all? Let them work it out themselves." Santana whined.

"Why are you even here if you don't want to help?" Artie asked.

"Because I'm sick of Mr. Shue assigning me all of Rachel's solos that require her to interact with Finn. And I'm _really_ sick of the death glares she gives me every time I take them."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you responsible for this whole mess in the first place? We wouldn't be here if they hadn't broken up, and they wouldn't have broken up if you hadn't slept with Finn." Quinn said in an accusatory tone.

"Yeah, so? Lots of guys have sex with me. And those two were bound to break up eventually." Santana answered flippantly.

"Most guys don't date Rachel Berry." Puck pointed out.

"I don't really see what that has to do with it."

"She's the biggest drama queen in school." Artie said.

"And that's my problem, why?"

"You don't sleep with the drama queen's boyfriend. You just don't." Tina stated.

"He wasn't her boyfriend yet." Santana argued.

"All for Santana cleaning up the mess she made?" Kurt called for a vote.

"Aye." Everyone else in the room agreed.

"Fine. But don't expect me to do everything." Santana begrudgingly accepted her assignment.

Now that Santana had agreed to talk to Rachel about the meaninglessness of her relationship with Finn, if you could even call it that (she wouldn't), the rest of the plan fell quickly into place. They all agreed that it should be enacted as soon as possible, so they scheduled it for after football practice that Thursday.

STEP ONE:Replace Finn's daily post-football practice brownie with the Chronic Lady's 'special' brownies.

STEP TWO: Drag the drowsy Finn to Mr. Shuester's office in the choir room to sleep it off. And wait for Rachel, but he won't know about that part.

STEP THREE: Lure Rachel to the choir room.

"Rachel, we have a situation in the choir room. We need you here, now." Kurt demanded over the phone.

"I just got home from the choir room. What's wrong?" she asked, not really wanting to return to school.

"Uh, fashion emergency. I need you to get down here and help me convince Mercedes that her ideas for our sectionals costumes are completely insane." Kurt lied.

"Okay. I guess I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Great! See you soon!" Kurt said a little enthusiastically.

"Why'd you have to throw me under the bus?" Mercedes asked loudly.

"I'm sorry. She asked why we needed her and that was the first thing that came to mind."

"The first thing that came to mind was that I'm insane? Thanks, I'll remember that."

"Calm down, guys. Rachel's coming and that's the important thing, right?" Quinn interjected.

"Right." They both agreed.

"But you best remember that I don't forget." Mercedes gave Kurt a fake glare and a punch on the shoulder.

"I will." Kurt said, pulling Mercedes into a hug.

"Now, Santana, do you know what you're going to say to Rachel when she gets here?" Quinn asked.

"Just some crap about how Finn meant nothing to me and I'm sure I mean nothing to him and I was only messing with him when I texted him the day she left town for New York and that we didn't actually do anything when he came over that day because he was too busy yelling at me. Blah. Blah. Blah." Santana muttered as she finished painting her nails.

"Good. Now can you try to sound like you mean it when you say it to her?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. I just want to get this over with."

"I mean it, Santana."

"I will! Geez." Santana said as Rachel bounded into the room.

"Oh, hi, everyone." Rachel said when she saw the entire glee club, minus Finn, standing around Santana. "I thought it was just you and Mercedes?" she said to Kurt.

"Oh, nope. We're all here." Mercedes said, inching toward the door.

"Well where are the costumes that you wanted me to look at?" Rachel asked as everyone scurried out of the room.

"There aren't any." Quinn said before exiting the room and locking the door behind her.

"Hey! What's going on?" Rachel pounded on the door.

"Sit down, Rachel." Santana said from her seat.

"Oh, you're still here."

"Yep, still here. Now sit." Santana ordered.

"Alright. Now would you please tell me why we're locked in here together?" Rachel asked after she settled herself into a chair a few feet away from the other girl.

"Because we need to talk."

"Well, I don't have anything to say to you." Rachel said before getting back up and marching toward the door again.

"But I have something to say to you. Now sit down or I'm gonna have to use this." Santana said, pulling some rope out of her bag.

"You are not tying me up."

"Then sit down so I don't have to. I want to get this over with as much as you do, so just sit down and listen so we can both go home."

"Alright, fine. I'll listen."

STEP FOUR: Make Rachel listen to Santana. (This better work)


	9. Discussion

"Alright, fine. I'll listen." Rachel said reluctantly, vaguely aware of the resentment she was feeling toward the other girl as well as the rest of the glee club for getting involved.

"Good. Now I'm not going to bother you with my reasons for having sex with Finn. They aren't important and they won't make you like me any more than you already do. And quite frankly, they have nothing to do with why I'm here right now." Santana started.

"Okay?"

"But you do need to know that it really didn't mean anything to me. I don't want him, and with the exception of that one night, I never have. And I didn't even really want him all that much then. He's totally not my type. I need a man with a spine." Santana said, her voice dripping with disdain.

"Why are you telling me this? I really don't want to hear about how an incident that is only worth a notch on your bedpost managed to ruin my entire relationship with my boyfriend."

"But that's what I'm trying to fix. That night meant nothing to either of us. Why should you care about it if neither of us do?"

"But he slept with you and then told me he didn't because he was waiting for me." Rachel protested.

"He wanted to wait for you, I think. But no guy says no to me. He was obviously not happy after the fact. I seriously thought he was going to cry. What a girl." Santana said, her voice dripping with disdain because this conversation was taking longer than the event in question had, and that was just far too long for her.

"You made him cry?"

"I didn't _make_ him cry. He did it to himself. He didn't really want to be there, but he was anyway. If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure I heard your name. And no one forgets that they're screwing Santana Lopez."

"Please stop. I don't think I want to hear about this."

"Hear what?"

"You talking about what it was like to be with him."

"Like I would tell you that. You might think I'm a slut just because I like sex, but I am not stupid. Have you ever heard me tell a girl about how much fun I had- or didn't have- while sleeping with her boyfriend?" Santana said, taking offense.

"I wasn't- I'm sorry." Rachel started to apologize for offending her.

"Ugh." Santana was so over this conversation. "Why are you apologizing? I thought I was the one that 'wronged' you or some nonsense like that?" Santana redirected the conversation when she remembered that she was supposed to making Rachel feel better, not worse.

"You are, I guess."

"But I do have to say that I didn't really do anything wrong. He and I were both single at the time, so its not like we were cheating."

"I know that. But he was also trying to win me back at the time."

"Were you or were you not planning on doing the same thing with St. James that night?"

"Well, yes, but he lied to me."

"Which leads me to my next point. Did you or did you not also lie about what you did that night?"

"How do you know about that?" Rachel asked, shocked.

"Honey, I know everything that goes on in this school. So did you lie to him or not?"

"Well, yes. But I told him the-"

"The way I see it, you have no reason not to take the moron back." Santana cut her off.

"I think the fact that he went straight to you after our fight at the airport that day is a good enough reason."

"He was only there to tell me to back off. As if anything I did with him was ever pushy. Poor boy doesn't have a clue."

"Hey! He's not stupid!"

"I never said he was, just clueless about anything involving females. I mean, pregnant by hot tub, really?"

"He trusted Quinn. He didn't have any reason not to at the time."

"Whatever, we're not here to debate the boy's intelligence. We're here to talk about why you're refusing to forgive him."

"Oh, that's why we're here?" Rachel asked sarcastically.

"Yes. Now I'm pretty sure we've covered all of them. No you just have to decide if all your reasons not to forgive him more important than the fact that you're obviously still in love with him?"

"I never said I was in-"

"Just think about what I said." Santana said before getting up and going to knock on the door to let Quinn and Mercedes know she was done.

"Santana, wait." Rachel called after her.

"What?" She said, annoyed that she was being held up here any longer.

"Thanks."

"Whatever." Santana said with a brief smile before exiting the room.

So Rachel thought about what Santana had to say. She already knew most of it, everything except a few the details about that night, really. But somehow, hearing it from Santana herself made her realize that she had been crazy to believe that she was really a threat to her relationship with Finn. Sadly, it was Rachel herself that had ruined what they had. Obviously, Finn had set her up to ruin it by doing what he did, but he came clean and tried several times to fix things. He tried harder than she probably would have, given the situation. Now it was up to her to convince Finn to forgive her for her overreaction. Hopefully this wouldn't be too hard, he should have known what he was getting into when he started dating the school drama queen. She was about to call Finn and have her meet her in the choir room when she realized that in her hurry to get there and resolve the imaginary costume crisis, she had left her phone in her bedroom.

"_That's alright. I'll just go over to his house and surprise him_." Rachel thought happily. However, she found that the door was still locked when she tried to leave the choir room.

"Hello? Is anybody out there? I'm locked in the choir room!" She shouted as she pounded on the door.

"No need to yell. I'm right here." Kurt announced calmly through the door.

"Kurt? Is that you? Can you go get Mr. Shuester or a janitor to let me out? I'm locked in."

"Sorry, dearie. No can do."

"What?" Rachel exclaimed in confusion.

"Again, no need to yell."

"Fine, I'm sorry. Will you please go get a janitor or Principal Figgins or Mr. Shuester or anyone with a key that can let me out? I'll give you my next solo if you do this for me." Rachel pleaded, desperate to get to Finn.

"Sorry, Rachel. You're not going to bribe yourself out of here." Mercedes piped up.

"Mercedes? Why are you still here? Actually, what are you both doing here?"

"All ten of us, actually." Quinn said before Rachel heard a chorus of 'Hi Rachel's.

"What? Why are you guys doing this to me?" Rachel demanded to know.

"You'll see." Tina said cryptically.

"I'll see? I don't have time for this, I have to find Finn! Now I demand that you unlock this door." Rachel insisted.

"If you want to find Finn, you won't do it by going through this door." Kurt explained vaguely.

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll see." Mercedes stated.

"I'll see? What is that supposed to mean? Let me out this instant!" Rachel shouted. After several minutes of pounding on the door and yelling at her so-called friends to no avail, she slumped down against the wall to wait out whatever plan they had in store for her.

"You guys are going to pay for this!" She tried one last time.

"We'll see about that." Was all Mercedes said.

A few moments later, Finn stumbled to the office door in a stupor.

"Finn?" Rachel asked.

"Hi, Rachel. Was that you I just heard yelling?" he asked, still in a haze.

"Yes. I'm locked in. Or we're locked in, I suppose."

"Oh. Can you tell me how I ended up passed out in Mr. Shue's office?" At this, Rachel burst into laughter.

"I think the rest of the glee club is conspiring to get us back together." She explained when she managed to catch her breath.

"Oh." Finn said lamely. "Did it work?"


	10. Reunion

Finn woke with a start at the sound of someone, someone that sounded strangely like Rachel, yelling.

"_Why would Rachel be at my house yelling at someone who's not me?" _He wondered before rolling over on the mattress that Mr. Shuester still had in his office. Had he not been drugged, he would have realized that he was not at home in his bed, but as he was still under the influence of the Chronic Lady, and the yelling had subsided, he quickly fell asleep again. Just as the bag of Cheetos in his dream started to sing "Defying Gravity" to a cupcake, the yelling woke him again, this time with banging. This time, it kept going for a while, so he decided to investigate. It wasn't until he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress that he realized that the bed he was in was significantly shorter than the one in his room at home.

Although he was extremely groggy, he did manage to survey the room and decide that he was in Mr. Shuester's office. The fact that Rachel was yelling, and it definitely was Rachel, made a lot more sense to him now. Still, he decided that he should find out what was going on if something was happening with the glee club. When he opened the office door, he was surprised to find only Rachel sitting next to the door to the hallway

"Finn?" Rachel asked when she saw him looking at her with a confounded look in his eyes.

"Hi, Rachel. Was that you I just heard yelling?"

"Yes. I'm locked in. Or we're locked in, I suppose."

"Oh. Can you tell me how I ended up passed out in Mr. Shue's office?" At this, Rachel burst into laughter.

"I think the rest of the glee club is conspiring to get us back together." She explained when she managed to catch her breath.

"Oh." Finn said lamely. "Did it work?"

"I think that depends on whether or not you can forgive me." Rachel said.

"Oh." Finn said again, taken aback by the direction that this conversation seemed to be taking. "I think I need to sit down." he said when he realized that he was feeling dizzy.

"Good idea. We might be stuck here for a while. I don't know how long the others are going to keep us locked up." Rachel agreed, joining him at the cluster of chairs in the center of the room.

"So you did just say that we'll be back together if I can forgive you, right?" Finn asked, still feeling a bit out of it, which normally would have concerned him, but he was too busy thinking about Rachel to notice.

"Yes, I did."

"Am I hallucinating? I feel kinda funny. I think there was something in my Gatorade at practice today."

"No, you're not hallucinating."

"Or dreaming? Pinch me." Rachel reluctantly obliged.

"Ouch! I guess I'm not dreaming. So why are we here?"

"The others locked us in here, presumably to get back together. Or kill each other. And since they like you and tolerate me for the most part, I'd be more inclined to believe they want us to get back together." Rachel explained to the best of her knowledge.

"Oh."

"So if you can somehow manage to forgive me for everything, I think they'll release us."

"Wait, what am I supposed to be forgiving you for? I thought you were the one who was mad at me?"

"I was, but then I realized that I'm the one to blame for our current predicament." Rachel explained.

"Huh." Finn said thoughtfully.

"What was that for?"

"Just thinking. What did you do that I'm supposed to be forgiving you for?" he asked, still confused.

"For being stubborn and not listening to you or giving you a chance to fix things."

"Oh. Well, you were mad."

"You drove all the way to New York City and I just left you there."

"It was stupid for me to go there and expect you to want to talk to me. You were busy and had to spend your last night with your new friends."

"But when you got back, I listened to you knocking on my door every day and wouldn't answer it."

"Yeah, that got kinda annoying." Finn admitted.

"So can you forgive me? I'm so sorry for overreacting the way I did."

"I expected a little overreaction, Rach. But I also expected you to listen to me at some point. Did you even hear my speech in the dressing room? If anything I've ever said could count as a speech, that would be it."

"I heard some of it, but I was just so mad at you for showing up and ruining my performance that-"

"Ruining your performance? You were amazing."

"Thank you, but you're biased and I could have done better."

"You're going to think that no matter how well you do."

"Of course I am, that's what separates the stars from the good performers. But that's not the point. Can you forgive me for letting our fight get so out of control?"

"Can you promise to never break up with me without giving me a chance to fix things first?"

"Yes. As long as you promise to never do anything to make me want to break up with you."

"I don't think I can really promise that. I'm really good at doing exactly what I know I shouldn't do. But know I'll never do anything to hurt you on purpose."

"Good." Rachel said, beaming.

"Does this mean that you forgive me for the Santana thing and for lying about it?"

"Oh, I wish you hadn't asked about that. I can't say that I've completely forgiven you for it, especially for lying about it, but I'm willing to try to get past it. Together. And I don't expect you to get over what I've done to you immediately either. I know I was harsh and I have to learn to have discussions without automatically jumping to a breakup."

"Why are you being so nice to me? We had almost two months of fighting and not talking. And now you're saying all I have to do is forgive you for the fighting and we're good? It can't be this easy." Finn said, astonished.

"I wouldn't say this is easy. I'm just acknowledging the fact that, had I listened to you before, we would have gotten past this issue a long time ago."

"Rach, I'm really happy about all this, but why now?" Finn asked.

"Somebody made me realize that I care about you too much to let Santana get in our way." She explained.

"Who?"

"Santana." Rachel admitted. "But I suspect that she was forced into it by the rest of the glee club considering the fact that they are the ones that locked us in here together."

"Who is this Santa person you speak of?" Finn grinned.

"Oh." Rachel scoffed, whacking Finn in the chest.

"Hey! No hitting!" Finn protested, tickling her. Despite her demands that he stop, he continued until she ended up on the floor in a failed attempt to get away from him.

"Oh, are you okay?" he asked, concerned as he kneeled next to her.

"Mhmm." Rachel nodded as she pulled Finn's head down to meet her for a gentle kiss.

….

"They're being awfully quiet in there." Kurt observed.

"Yeah, it's been a couple of minutes since either one of them said anything." Artie added.

"Oh, ew. I think I just heard a slurp." Santana said, disgusted.

"Okay, time to break up the lovefest." Mercedes said, unlocking the door.

"About damn time!" Puck exclaimed as they all clamored into the room. "By the way, you guys owe me twenty bucks for the special brownies."

"Special brownies? What are you talking about?" Rachel asked, confused, as she rose from the floor.

"Dude! You asshole! That's what's got me feeling all tired and hungry? You put pot in my brownies?" Finn exclaimed jumping up and shoving Puck.

"Yes, I did. And now you owe me twenty bucks."

"Like hell I do. I didn't ask for that crap."

"It got you and Rachel back together, didn't it?"

"Wait, so Finn is currently under the influence of psychotropic drugs?" Rachel asked.

"I'm not sure what psychotropic means, but probably, yes." Puck confirmed.

"Finn, we have to break up again."

"Wha? Why?" Finn asked as the rest of the club groaned.

"Because you are under the influence of a mind-altering drug. There's no way for us to know if everything you just said was really you or if it was just the drugs talking." Rachel explained.

"I promise, it wasn't the drug." Finn said, trying to pull Rachel in for a kiss, which was promptly rejected.

"No, you're not thinking clearly. We'll talk tomorrow and see if you still feel the same." Rachel said before marching off. Finn just stood there and watched her bemusedly until Quinn gave him a push in the same direction.

"Go after her. We don't want to have to do this again."

"Oh, right. Moving my feet might help with that." Finn said before breaking into a run, then grabbing Rachel, throwing her over his shoulder, and continuing the walk toward the parking lot.

"Put me down!" she protested halfheartedly.

"Not until you agree to be my girlfriend again." This request was met with a scoff.

"I mean it, I'm not putting you down until we're together again." He repeated.

"But you're not thinking clearly."

"Yes I am."

"Fine. I'll be your girlfriend again. Now put me down." She ordered.

"In a minute." Finn said, repositioning his girlfriend's body so that her legs were wrapped around his waist and she was at eye-level with him. "Hi."

"Hi." She replied with a grin before leaning into a kiss. When they pulled apart, she asked, "Can you please put me down?"

"If you insist. Want to come over to my house? My mom's making her homemade mac and cheese tonight." He suggested as he dug his keys out of his pocket.

"Sure. But I'm driving. You're in no condition to operate a motor vehicle." Rachel said, reaching for the keys.

"Do you even know how to drive a stick?" Finn asked, holding the keys out of her reach.

"No. But how hard can it be? I'm sure I can handle it if you tell me what to do."

"So I'm not allowed to drive my own truck in this condition, but I am allowed to teach you how to drive it?" Finn asked with a laugh.

"Well, I'm not impaired at the moment, so I'm more able to maintain control of the vehicle."

"Not if you don't know how to work the clutch." Rachel glared at him, admitting defeat.

"Fine. But I was just trying to keep you safe."

"And I love you for that, but I promise I'm fine."

A/N: So that's it for this story. Let me know what you think! BTW, I'm working on another story, hopefully I can come up with a better title than I did for this one. Does anybody else hate the title "A Necessary Trial" as much as I do?


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